Sofa beds

ABSTRACT

In a sofa bed including a seat frame and a backrest frame including a seat mattress mounted on the seat frame and a backrest mattress mounted on the backrest frame, the provision of recesses between the side and front edge portions of the mattresses and the frames for receiving a contour sheet or other sheet or bedding in the recesses.

United States Patent [191 Rogers, Jr. et a1.

[ 1 Dec. 31, 1974 SOFA BEDS [76] Inventors: Walter Clark Rogers, Jr.,3101 N. Main St., High Point, NC. 27260; Morton Snitzer, 3301 AlbemarleDr., Greensboro, NC. 27401 [22] Filed: Apr. 2, 1973 [21] Appl. No.:347,310

[52] US. Cl 5/29, 5/37, 5/334 C [51] Int. Cl. A47c 17/14 [58] Field ofSearch 5/13, l7, 18, 29, 37, 322,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,135,971 6/1964 Haller5/332 X 3,657,747 4/1972 Rogers 5/345 R 3,685,063 8/ 1972 Morgan 5/345 RPrimary Examiner-Casmir A. Nunberg Attorney, Agent, or Firm-William E.Mouzavires 5 7 ABSTRACT In a sofa bed including a seat frame and abackrest frame including a seat mattress mounted on the seat frame and abackrest mattress mounted on the backrest frame, the provision ofrecesses between the side and front edge portions of the mattresses andthe frames for receiving a contour sheet or other sheet or bedding inthe recesses.

7 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures SOFA BEDS OBJECTS OF INVENTION The presentinvention generally relates to sofa beds of the type including a seatand a backrest movable between a sofa position where the backrestextends upright from the seat and a bed position wherein the backrestextends in a horizontal plane generally coplanar with the seat. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to improvements in theframes and mattresses of the backrest and the seat.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a sofa bed ofthe type aforedescribed which will enable a bedding sheet or blanketetc. to be tucked under the mattress sections thereof when used as abed. Included herein is the provision of such a sofa bed which will alsoaccommodate a contour bedding sheet to be slipped over the corners ofthe mattresses when in use as a bed.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a novelmethod and arrangement for attaching mattresses in a sofa bed to theirrespective frames to enable the use of contour bedding sheets and othersheets to be tucked under the lower outer edges of the mattresses.Included herein is a provision of such a novel method and arrangementwhich may be applied to new sofa beds or conventional sofa beds on thecommercial market, or other sofa beds of the prior art, withoutextensive modification.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of such a sofabed wherein the mattresses associated with the seat and backrest havethe same depth dimensions at the corners thereof to enable a contoursheet to be employed thereon.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The above and other objects are achieved in oneembodiment of the invention applied to a sofa bed of the type having aseat including a mattress secured on an underlying frame which in turnis supported on a base, and a backrest pivotally connected to the seatfor movement between an upright position for use as a sofa and ahorizontal position generally coplanar with the seat for use as a bed.The backrest includes a frame interconnected by a linkage mechanism tothe seat frame, and a mattress adapted to overlie the backrest framewhen in the horizontal bed position. In one specifrc embodiment of asofa bed such as disclosed in our U.S. Pat. No. 3,657,747, the mattressassociated with the backrest is not attached to the backrest but ratheris hinged to the mattress associated with the seat so as to be movablebetween a position overlying the seat mattress when used as a sofa, anda horizontal position on the backrest frame and coplanar with the seatmattress when used as a bed.

In accordance with the present invention, the seat mattress is attachedto its associated underlying frame at points spaced inwardly from theperipheral edge portions of the mattress and frame, the point ofattachment being under the seat mattress. In this way, a recess isprovided in the peripheral edges between the mattress and the frame forreceiving a bedding sheet or blanket. Additionally, this permits themattress associated with the seat to be dimensioned to have the sameheight as the mattress associated with the backrest so as to permit acontour sheet to be used over the both mattresses when used as a bed. Incertain conventional sofa beds, where the backrest mattress is connectedto the underlying backrest frame, the above described feature would beincorporated by connecting the backrest mattress to the frame at pointsspaced inwardly from the peripheral edges to provide a recess fortucking under bedding sheets or blankets.

DRAWINGS Other objects and advantages will become apparent from thefollowing more detailed description taken in conjunction with thedrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a sofa bed embodying the inventionwith portions of the frame of the sofa bed being shown in cross section;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. I but showing the sofa bed in a bedposition;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing portions of the mattresses andtheir underlying frames in a bed position for accommodating a contoursheet shown partly assembled on the mattresses; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmental cross-sectional view of a portion of the sofa bedframe and overlying mattress with bedding sheets tucked therebetween.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to the drawings in detail, there isshown for illustration purposes only a sofa bed generally designated 10which may be converted from a sofa position illustrated in FIG. 1 to abed position illustrated in FIG. 2 and vice versa. Sofa bed 10 disclosedis of the same type disclosed in our U.S. Pat. No. 3,657,747 entitledSofa Bed and Linkage Mechanism issued Apr. 25, 1972. Although thepresent invention is disclosed and described herein in connection withone specific sofa bed of the type disclosed in our US. Pat. No.3,657,747, it will be understood that the present invention may also beapplied to other types of sofa beds as will be described in more detailbelow.

Illustrated sofa bed 10 basically includes a base 12, a seat frame 14, abackrest frame 16 pivotally connected to the seat frame, and a linkagemechanism 18 for supporting the seat and backrest frames on the base inand for movement between, the sofa and bed positions shown in FIGS. 1and 2. It should be understood that the linkage mechanism 18 forms nopart of the present invention but a more detailed description thereofmay be obtained by reference to our U.S. Pat. No. 3,657,747.

Base 12 may have any suitable construction such as, for example shown inthe drawings wherein it includes front and rear side members 20 and 22interconnected at their ends by end members 23 to form a generallyrectangular structure. Similarly, seat and backrest frames 14 and 16 mayalso have a rectangular construction including side members 24 and 26and end members 28 and 30, respectively. The frames may be made fromwood as in the shown embodiment or any other suitable material. For amore detailed description and illustration of the frame, reference ishad to our U.S. Pat. No. 3,657,747 including FIG. 1 thereof, thedisclosure of said patent being incorporated by reference herein.

The shown embodiment includes a double mattress, pad or cushionarrangement of rectangular shape consisting of upper and lower pad,mattress or cushion sections 32 and 34 hinged together at 36 along theiradjacent sides. When the sofa bed is in the sofa position shown in FIG.1, upper mattresses 32 rests on lower mattress 34 which in turn rests onseat frame 14. To complete the cushion arrangement in this position, oneor more removable cushions 38 may be placed against the backrest asshown in FIG. 2.

In use when as it is desired to convert the sofa bed from the sofaposition shown in FIG. 1 to the bed position shown in FIG. 2, backrestcushions 38 are removed and then seat frame 14 is raised and movedforwardly which will also cause backrest frame 16 to pivot clockwise asshown in the drawings relative to seat frame 14 until reaching ahorizontal position coplanar with the seat frame as shown in FIG. 4.Upper mattress section 32 may then be swung clockwise as shown in thedrawings about hinge 36 to cover backrest frame 16 as shown in FIG. 2thereby completing the conversion for bed use.

In certain mattress constructions prevalent the prior art such as shownin our US. Pat. No. 3,657,747, the front mattress 34 is fixed to theframe 14. Moreover, front mattress 34 is fixed to its frame 14 in someprior art constructions by incorporating the frame 14 as the bottom ofthe front mattress 34. One method of accomplishing the latter is shownin our Pat. No. 3,657,747 wherein the outer surface of front mattress 34extends below the side edges of frame portions 24 and 28 and under thelatter where it is-fixed thereto in any suitable manner. Thisconstruction has the disadvantage that bedding sheets or blankets, etc.cannot be tucked in below the front mattress 34 between the latter andunderlying frame 14. Furthermore, this prior art construction oftenresults in the disadvantage that the height or depth of front mattress34 at the corners thereof is larger than that of the backrest mattress32 at the corners thereof thus preventing the use ofa contour sheetwhich is uniformly dimensioned to fit over uniform corners of amattress.

In accordance with the present invention, the above disadvantage isobviated in one embodiment of the present invention by forming the frontmattress 34 separate from frame 14 and by attaching the bottom surfaceof the front mattress 34 to the frame 14 at points spaced inwardly fromthe peripheral edges of the mattress 34 and frame 14. This provides arecess R between the lower peripheral edge portions of mattress 34 andunderlying frame 14 for receiving bedding sheets and/or blankets etc.generally designated B in FIG. 4. Furthermore, this permits the heightof the corners of front mattress 34 to have the same dimension as thatof rear mattress 32 to enable a contour sheet C to be applied over bothof the mattresses 32 and 34 when in the bed position as illustrated inFIG. 3.

One preferred method and arrangement of constructing the front mattress34 and its underlying seat frame 14 to provide the desired recesses R isshown in the drawings, however, several other methods may also beemployed. In the specific construction shown, seat frame 14 is providedwith an overlying layer of material or sheet 40 which at its peripheryextends at 42 about the peripheral edge of frame 14 and under frame 14at 44 where it it connected in any suitable manner such as by fasteners,staples, etc. 46 to frame portions 24 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. Such aframe sheet 40 is similar to frame sheet 42 employed on the backrestframe 16. The lower surface 34a of seat mattress 34 is then connected toframe sheet 40 at a point spaced inwardly from the peripheral edges ofmattress 34 and frame 14. In one preferred embodiment, this connectionmay be provided through stitching material generally designated 50received in frame sheet 40 and the lower surface sheet 34a of frontmattress 34. It should also be understood that in the preferredembodiment, the peripheral edge portions 42 and 44 of frame sheet 40extend about the side and end members 24, 28 of frame 14, and thestitching 50 extends rectangularly through out the peripheraldimensioning of the mattress 34 and frame 14 so that a rectangularlycontinuous recess R is provided below mattress 34. Instead of employingstitching 50 it will be obvious that other attachment means may beemployed such as by bonding, stapling, interweaving, etc. Also, andalthough not shown, bottom surface 34a of mattress 34 may beincorporated integrally with frame sheet 40 with recesses R includedtherein.

Since in the specific embodiment shown, backrest mattress 32 is pivotedto front mattress 34 to be movable on top of the front mattress 34 whenused as a sofa as shown in FIG. 1, backrest mattress 32 is notpositively connected to backrest frame 16 thereby permitting the rearportions of the bedding sheet, etc. to be tucked under backrest mattress32 when used in bed position. However, it should be understood that incertain conventional or other prior art sofa beds, the backrest mattresscorresponding to 32 is not mounted for movement on the front mattress 34but instead is positively connected or attached to the backrest framecorresponding to frame 16 to remain on the backrest frame regardless ofwhether it is in the upright or horizontal position. In such instances,the mattress and frame construction providing the recesses R employed inconnection with front mattress 34 and seat frame 14 shown and describedabove, will also be employed in connection with backrest mattress 32 andits underlying frame. Therefore the present invention need not belimited to the specific mattress arrangement shown and described hereinwhere the back-rest mattress 32 is not connected to its associated framebut rather is free to move in overlying relationship with front mattress34.

What is claimed is:

1. In a sofa bed including, a seat, a backrest movably connected to theseat for movement between an upright position extending upwardly at anangle to the seat for use as a sofa and a generally horizontal positionextending generally coplanar with the seat for use as a bed, said seatincluding a frame extending generally in a horizontal plane, a mattressoverlying the frame, and connecting means interconnecting the mattressto the frame at a point under the mattress and spaced inwardly from thefront edge portions of the mattress to define a recess between themattress and the front edge portions of the frame for receiving abedding sheet or the like covering the mattress and tucked into saidrecess, and wherein said connecting means extends continuously along thefront and sides of the mattress and frame but spaced inwardly from theedges thereof to define a continuous recess along the front and sidesthereof for receiving a sheet in the recess, and wherein said backrestincludes a frame and a mattress loosely positioned on said backrestframe when the backrest is in horizontal position for use as a bed, saidbackrest mattress being removable from the backrest for placement on theseat mattress when the backrest is in the upright position for use as asofa, and wherein said seat and backrest mattresses have a generallyrectangular shape with the depth of the mattresses at each of thecorners thereof being of the same dimension.

2. The sofa bed defined in claim 1 wherein said connecting meansincludes a sheet overlying said frame and fixed to the frame, andattaching means attaching said sheet to an underportion of said mattresslocated inwardly from the front edge portions of the mattress.

3. The sofa bed defined in claim 2 wherein said attaching means arestitches.

4. A frame and mattress assembly for use in a sofa bed comprising incombination, a frame adapted to be placed in a horizontal position whenin use as a sofa bed, a mattress overlying and generally coextensivewith said frame, and connecting means interconnecting an underportion ofsaid mattress and a portion of the frame at a location spaced inwardlyfrom the edge portions thereof to define a recess between the edgeportions of the mattress and frame for receiving a bedding sheet or thelike to be tucked under the mattress, a second frame connected to saidfirst frame for movement between an upright position and a horizontalposition, a second mattress adapted to rest on the second frame incoplanar relationship with the first mattress for use as a bed, saidsecond mattress adapted to be placed in overlying relationship on thesecond mattress for use as a sofa, said first and second mattresseshaving the same depth dimension throughout the peripheral portionsthereof, and wherein said connecting means includes a frame sheetoverlying the first frame and secured to said first frame below saidfirst mattress, and attach ment means engaging bottom portions of thefirst mattress and portions of said frame sheet.

5. The combination defined in claim 4 wherein said frame sheet extendsover edge portions of said frame and under said frame and is attachedunder said frame to said frame.

6. The combination defined in claim 5 wherein said attachment meansincludes stitched material.

7. The combination defined in claim 4 wherein said frame and saidmattress have a generally rectangular shape.

1. In a sofa bed including, a seat, a backrest movably connected to theseat for movement between an upright position extending upwardly at anangle to the seat for use as a sofa and a generally horizontal positionextending generally coplanar with the seat for use as a bed, said seatincluding a frame extending generally in a horizontal plane, a mattressoverlying the frame, and connecting means interconnecting the mattressto the frame at a point under the mattress and spaced inwardly from thefront edge portions of the mattress to define a recess between themattress and the front edge portions of the frame for receiving abedding sheet or the like covering the mattress and tucked into saidrecess, and wherein said connecting means extends continuously along thefront and sides of the mattress and frame but spaced inwardly from theedges thereof to define a continuous recess along the front and sidesthereof for receiving a sheet in the recess, and wherein said backrestincludes a frame and a mattress loosely positioned on said backrestframe when the backrest is in horizontal position for use as a bed, saidbackrest mattress being removable from the backrest for placement on theseat mattress when the backrest is in the upright position for use as asofa, and wherein said seat and backrest mattresses have a generallyrectangular shape with the depth of the mattresses at each of thecorners thereof being of the same dimension.
 2. The sofa bed defined inclaim 1 wherein said connecting means includes a sheet overlying saidframe and fixed to the frame, and attaching means attaching said sheetto an underportion of said mattress located inwardly from the front edgeportions of the mattress.
 3. The sofa bed defined in claim 2 whereinsaid attaching means are stitches.
 4. A frame and mattress assembly foruse in a sofa bed comprising in combination, a frame adapted to beplaced in a horizontal position when in use as a sofa bed, a mattressoverlying and generally coextensive with said frame, and connectingmeans interconnecting an underportion of said mattress and a portion ofthe frame at a location spaced inwardly from the edge portions thereofto define a recess between the edge portions of the mattress and framefor receiving a bedding sheet or the like to be tucked under themattress, a second frame connected to said first frame for movementbetween an upright position and a horizontal position, a second mattressadapted to rest on the second frame in coplanar relationship with thefirst mattress for use as a bed, said second mattress adapted to beplaced in overlying relationship on the second mattress for use as asofa, said first and second mattresses having the same depth dimensionthroughout the peripheral portions thereof, and wherein said connectingmeans includes a frame sheet overlying the first frame and secured tosaid first frame below said fIrst mattress, and attachment meansengaging bottom portions of the first mattress and portions of saidframe sheet.
 5. The combination defined in claim 4 wherein said framesheet extends over edge portions of said frame and under said frame andis attached under said frame to said frame.
 6. The combination definedin claim 5 wherein said attachment means includes stitched material. 7.The combination defined in claim 4 wherein said frame and said mattresshave a generally rectangular shape.